


The Music of the Night

by procrastinatingbookworm



Series: Songs and Static (Grillster Stories) [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Music, Panic Attacks, The Phantom of the Opera - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 23:10:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9851045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procrastinatingbookworm/pseuds/procrastinatingbookworm
Summary: Grillby and Gaster hear a song on the radio.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Silverskye13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverskye13/gifts).



It was quiet. The peaceful sort of quiet that hummed between them like electricity, illuminating and warm to the touch.

Grillby lay with Gaster’s head on his shoulder, one arm around him, the other hand toying with Gaster’s fingers.

Peace hovered in the room like fog on a cold morning, soft and shimmering.

“Turn the radio on.” Gaster hummed, lifting his head to whisper his request against the elemental’s cheek. “’s too quiet.”

“You do it.” Grillby murmured back, his voice muffled as he shifted to meet Gaster’s gentle kiss. “My hands are…” he shifted, wrapping his arms around the skeleton. “… occupied.”

“You’re cuddly today.” Gaster teased, reaching one thin hand to tap the radio to life.

Static buzzed and softened, clearing into a dramatic baritone that lifted into operatic vowels, thrumming across piano chords.

“Dramatic.” Grillby chuckled. “I never could get my head around this sort of thing.”

  
_Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendour._   
_Grasp it, sense it tremulous and tender._   
_Turn your face away from the garish light of day,_   
_Turn your face away from cold, unfeeling light -_   
_and listen to the music of the night…_

  
Silence crept over them again, but this time laced with music and quiet awe, doubt and humor falling away.

  
_Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams!_   
_Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before!_   
_Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar!_   
_And you’ll live as you’ve never lived before_

  
They listened silently, wrapped in each other and in the melody, chilled and soothed all at once.

  
_Softly, deftly, music shall caress you._   
_Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you._   
_Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind,_   
_in this darkness which you know you cannot fight_   
_the darkness of the music of the night._

  
Gaster felt something swell in his chest, tight and emotional. He felt like… crying. Like something was broken in his chest, and he’d just now noticed.

  
_Let your mind start a journey through a strange, new world!_   
_Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before!_   
_Let your soul take you where you long to be!_   
_Only then can you belong to me_

  
He looked up to see his expression mirrored on Grillby’s face, tears gathering at the corners of the elemental’s eyes, spilling over when he blinked.

  
_Floating, falling, sweet intoxication!_   
_Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation!_   
_Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in,_   
_To the harmony which dreams alone can write,_   
_The power of the music of the night!_

  
Gaster curled against his parter, fighting the emptiness in his chest, searching for the warmth the Grillby always tried to give him.

All he found was stuttering hiccups of heat between long moments of dulled-down warmth as Grillby fought his own darkness.

  
_You alone can make my song take flight,_   
_Help me make the music of the night._

  
The song faded into static, then into some instrumental piece, and the silence grew heavier in the absence of it.

“I love you.” Grillby murmured into Gaster’s skull. “I thought I should tell you.”

“Love you too, Firefly.” Gaster replied, choking on the words. “Always.”

The sun was setting. They did not sleep.

—

Memories were fickle, selfish things. They stayed away when they were needed, hid in the darkness when there were words on the tip of your tongue, and came unbidden and unwanted when the darkness of the past left its echoes.

Grillby was shivering, breath coming in heaving, broken gasps, fingers curled and clawing at his temples, as if he could tear the memories from his head, rip away the panic and cast off the pain.

He stuttered something into the phone that started in his throat as “help” and came out a pathetic whimpering sob, and Gaster’s footsteps echoed to the beat of the screams in his head.

The skeleton was at his side, suddenly, grasping his hands, trying to calm him. “Breathe, firefly, breathe, please…”

His vision was going dark. His chest ached. He was choking on ice, drowning in the earth, dying…

Gaster started to sing. He stumbled over the words and missed the tune almost completely, and his voice cracked in panic and broke completely on a sob, but he sang.

“S-softly, deftly, music shall caress you.  
Hear it, f-feel it, secretly possess you.  
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind,  
in this d-darkness which you know you cannot f-fight…  
the darkness of the m-music of the night.”

Grillby slumped against him and breathed between sobs.


End file.
